Courteney Cox

Biography

Split Decision

After 19 years of marriage, Cox's parents, Richard, a building contractor, and her mother, Courteney, a homemaker, divorce. She lives with her mother and her three older siblings, a brother and two sisters, in Mountain Brook, Ala.

1982

Model Citizen

Cox begins working for the Ford Modeling Agency. She appears on the covers of teen magazines Tiger Beat and Young Miss before moving to Washington, D.C., to major in architecture at Mount Vernon College. After one year, she drops out and returns to New York to continue modeling.

1984

Bruce Almighty

At an audition for director Brian de Palma, Cox lands the memorable part of a Bruce Springsteen fan in the singer's music video "Dancing in the Dark." She is paid $350 for Springsteen to pluck her from the audience at a concert and dance with her on stage.

1985

A Groundbreaking "Period"

In a commercial for Tampax tampons, Cox becomes the first person to use the word "period" in a biological sense on TV in the U.S. She also lands bit parts on TV shows, including As theWorldTurns and TheLoveBoat, before nabbing her first role in a major motion picture, Mastersof theUniverse, a live-action feature film based on a popular cartoon series.

1987

September

Ties That Bind

Cox gets major exposure as Lauren Miller, the girlfriend of Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox) on the wildly popular TV series FamilyTies. Cox's role on the sitcom continues for two seasons.

1988

November 23

Returning to Cocoon

In her first prominent role in a major movie, Cox stars in the drama Cocoon:The Return, sequel to the Ron Howard-directed hit Cocoon. The film costars Hollywood old-timers Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Don Ameche and Wilford Brimley.

1989

April

Dating Michael Keaton

Cox meets actor Michael Keaton after telling a mutual friend that she admired his work in the 1988 drama CleanandSober. The two begin dating and the relationship lasts 5 ½ years. "It's the most important relationship I've ever had, and I think he's the most wonderful person I've ever met," Cox tells PEOPLE just months after the split.

1994

February 04

All-Righty Then!

Cox scores her first major box office smash with the comedy AceVentura:PetDetective. She plays the love interest opposite a relative unknown by the name of Jim Carrey.

September 22

Making Friends

After playing Jerry Seinfeld's girlfriend on an episode of Seinfeld, Cox debuts in what will become her iconic role, Monica Gellar. Her character joins Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer on the NBC sitcom Friends about six twentysomething New Yorkers.

1995

May 08

PEOPLE's Cover Girl

With a hit on her hands, the raven-haired pixie appears on the cover of PEOPLE's "50 Most Beautiful People" issue. "I only have to do three things to look halfway decent," Cox Arquette tells the magazine. "Curl my eyelashes, fill in my eyebrows and put some lipstick on."